SYDNEY: Aust stocks down 1.8% at noon. Plunging resources stocks, including a fresh dive by BHP Billiton to a 10-year low, have dragged the Australian sharemarket sharply lower.
A renewed rout in commodity markets overnight saw falls in oil and base metal prices, leading energy and mining stocks to open significantly weaker and maintain losses through to noon.
At 12.05pm (AEDT), the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 93.8 points, or 1.83 per cent, to 5031.9, while the broader All Ordinaries lost 90.6 points, or 1.75 per cent, to 5091.6.
Earlier, the index had touched a six-week low of 5,010.4 points.
World oil prices slumped by around 3 per cent for a second day overnight on fears that oversupplied conditions would persist, as stockpile data showed a surprisingly large increase.
